Geography | |
---|---|
Location | South Pacific Ocean |
Coordinates | 8°00′S140°42′W / 8°S 140.7°W |
Archipelago | Marquesas Islands |
Area | 43.8 km2 (16.9 sq mi) |
Highest elevation | 576 m (1890 ft) |
Administration | |
Overseas country | French Polynesia |
Demographics | |
Population | 103 (2002) |
Pop. density | 0/km2 (0/sq mi) |
Eiao is the largest of the extreme northwestern Marquesas Islands. The island is uninhabited, but is administratively part of the commune (municipality) of Nuku-Hiva, itself in the administrative subdivision of the Marquesas Islands.
The center of this island is a high plateau, rising on the east side to 576 metres above sea level (1,890 feet), much of which has been devastated by herds of feral sheep brought here by mankind. [1] There is one good anchorage, found on the western side of the island at Vaituha.
In pre-European times, the bodies of chiefs from parts of Te I'i were taken to Eiao for burial.
Eiao was at one time home to a Marquesan tribe called the Tuametaki. Archaeological investigations have discovered workshops for the production of stone tools, especially adzes, made from local basalt. [2] These tools have been found in archaeological sites on other islands, providing evidence for prehistoric interisland voyaging within this island group. [3] The population of the island during this phase was estimated at between 600 and 900 people. [4]
The first non-Polynesian encounter with the island was in 1791 by the American sea captain Joseph Ingraham, who named it Knox Island in honour of the U.S. Secretary of War at that time, Henry Knox. Other names given to this island by Western explorers include Masse, Fremantle, and Robert. The island was uninhabited at the time of its "discovery" by Europeans. [2]
In the late 19th century, the island was briefly used as a leper colony island, although that enterprise was eventually abandoned because of the frequent droughts, and the difficulty of reliably landing supplies on the island. In the 1970s, the island was the site of extensive French military activity, while it was being explored as a possible site for nuclear weapons testing. This island and its surrounding rocks were declared the Eiao Island Nature Reserve in 1992, as a first step toward protecting its ecosystem — including a number of endangered species, some of which are endemic. Before the creation of the reserve, the Eiao monarch, a bird in the order passeriformes, became extinct.
In May 2022 public consultations began on listing the island as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. [5]
Climate data for Eiao, French Polynesia | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 74 (23) | 74 (23) | 75 (24) | 75 (24) | 75 (24) | 74 (23) | 73 (23) | 73 (23) | 73 (23) | 73 (23) | 73 (23) | 74 (23) | 74 (23) |
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 72 (22) | 73 (23) | 73 (23) | 74 (23) | 73 (23) | 73 (23) | 72 (22) | 71 (22) | 71 (22) | 71 (22) | 72 (22) | 72 (22) | 72 (22) |
Average precipitation inches (mm) | 2.0 (51) | 2.5 (64) | 4.8 (120) | 4.3 (110) | 2.0 (51) | 1.4 (36) | 0.6 (15) | 0.5 (13) | 0.3 (7.6) | 0.4 (10) | 0.3 (7.6) | 0.4 (10) | 19.5 (495.2) |
Source: Meteoblue.com "Records and Averages for Eiao". |
French Polynesia is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) in the South Pacific Ocean. The total land area of French Polynesia is 3,521 square kilometres (1,359 sq mi), with a population of 278,786 of which at least 205,000 lives in the Society Islands and the remaining population lives in the rest of the archipelago.
The Marquesas Islands are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. Their highest point is the peak of Mount Oave on Ua Pou island, at 1,230 m (4,035 ft) above sea level.
Mohotani is an uninhabited island southeast of Hiva Oa and east of Tahuata in the southern Marquesas Islands. It has an area of 15 km2. Much of the island's sparse vegetation has been destroyed by feral goats and sheep, to the extent that following its rare rains, the sea around it is stained red from runoff. Early reports describes the island as fertile, with forest and fields. When Thor Heyerdahl visited the island in 1938, there were only a few goats and remains of deserted huts and villages.
Motu One is the name of a small sandbank with no vegetation, located on the western edge of a coral reef; the only atoll in the Marquesas Islands. The reef is approximately 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) in diameter, and the islet has a surface area of less than one hectare, rising only a few feet above sea level and changing shape regularly as the action of the currents deposits and removes sand.
Hatutu is a small island approximately 3 km (2 mi.) northeast of Eiao in the northern Marquesas Islands.
The Marquesas Islands were colonized by seafaring Polynesians as early as 300 AD, thought to originate from Tonga and Samoa. The dense population was concentrated in the narrow valleys and consisted of warring tribes.
The Marquesan Nature Reserves are a network of small nature reserves in the Marquesas Islands. The reserves were declared by the government of French Polynesia in 1992, as a first step toward preserving the native flora and fauna of some of the smaller islands of the group.
The Eiao Marquesan warbler is a subspecies of the northern Marquesan reed warbler found only in the dry upland forest on Eiao in the northern Marquesas Islands.
The Eiao Nature Reserve is a nature reserve encompassing the whole of the island of Eiao in the northern Marquesas Islands, as well as several surrounding rocks. The reserve was declared in 1971, as a first step in preserving whatever remains of the devastated ecosystem, which has almost entirely been destroyed through over-grazing by feral goats, sheep and swine.
Tahuata is the smallest of the inhabited Marquesas Islands, in French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. It is located 4 km (2.5 mi.) to the south of the western end of Hiva Oa, across the Canal du Bordelais, called Ha‘ava in Marquesan.
Ua Huka is one of the Marquesas Islands, in French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. It is situated in the northern group of the archipelago, approximately 25 mi (40 km) to the east of Nuku Hiva, at 8°54′S139°33′W.
This article details the history of the Marquesas. The Marquesas Islands are a group of volcanic islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southern Pacific Ocean. The Marquesas Islands comprise one of the five administrative divisions of French Polynesia.
The Musée de Tahiti et des Îles, Tahitian Te Fare Manaha, is the national museum of French Polynesia, located in Puna'auia, Tahiti.
This page list topics related to French Polynesia.
Nuku Hiva is the largest of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas country of France in the Pacific Ocean. It was formerly also known as Île Marchand and Madison Island.
Joseph Kaiha is a politician of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia. He has been the mayor of the island of Ua Pou since 2001. He was Minister of Culture from 2008 to 2009, and founder and first president of the Marquesas Island Community (Codim).
The Marquesan Dog or Marquesas Islands Dog is an extinct breed of dog from the Marquesas Islands. Similar to other strains of Polynesian dogs, it was introduced to the Marquesas by the ancestors of the Polynesian people during their migrations. Serving as a tribal totems and religious symbols, they were sometimes consumed as meat although less frequently than in other parts of the Pacific because of their scarcity. These native dogs are thought to have become extinct before the arrival of Europeans, who did not record their presence on the islands. Petroglyphic representations of dogs and the archaeological remains of dog bones and burials are the only evidence that the breed ever existed. Modern dog populations on the island are the descendants of foreign breeds later reintroduced in the 19th century as companions for European settlers.
Michel Charleux was a French archaeologist who did much of his work in French Polynesia and did important work on Tapa cloth.
Benoît Kautai is a French Polynesian politician and Member of the Assembly of French Polynesia. He is currently mayor of Nuku Hiva. He is a member of Tāpura Huiraʻatira.